Fatty acid determination from microalgal biomass

Abstract

Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are focusing the interest of researchers as long as analytical techniques are being improved. The Lepage and Roy direct transesterification method is being widely used to measure fatty acid content of microalgae which are proposed as potential sources of these products. In this paper, the physical state of the biomass to be analyzed is studied. Comparison has been stated between lyophilized biomass and wet biomass just harvested. Furthermore, the amount of sample and the number of methyl ester extractions have also been studied. From the statistical analysis carried out, wet biomass to fatty acid determination and the adequate range of sample are proposed. Three methyl ester extractions improve the resolution of GC analysis.

Keywords

• fatty acid (determination)
• microalgae
• physical state (comparison)
• polyunsaturated fatty acid